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CRNI responds to a week of heated debate about portrayals of race in editorial cartooning.

CRNI has been in touch with Mark Knight, the Melbourne Herald Sun‘s cartoonist whose drawing of tennis player Serena Williams has been the subject of intense speculation, controversy and criticism this week. After threats were received via social media accounts belonging to Mark and his family he has withdrawn from public discourse for the time being. CRNI utterly condemns the actions of anyone who steps beyond the bounds of passionate debate and enters the realm of harassment, bullying and criminality. No cartoon, regardless of its content, warrants harm to its creator or indeed innocent people who happen to be connected to that creator.

Mark himself is safe, well and in good spirits.

We note that colleagues around the world are divided over the cartoon itself. Some think it was too redolent of racial stereotypes confined to the past, others question how cartoonists can be expected to caricature people of all kinds without potential vulnerability to accusations of prejudice when their subjects are of ethnicities or genders other than their own.

This is a conversation with merit and is the only process by which social mores can be changed for the better. “Dog-piling” achieves little and more often than not entrenches positions, allowing the freedom of speech agenda to be highjacked by bad actors. This surely is the worst possible outcome for all concerned.

CRNI announces its annual Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award.

Pedro X. Molina of Nicaragua is a long-standing proponent of freedom of expression and a tireless ally of cartoonists in trouble elsewhere. Of late he has had cause to chronicle the deteriorating condition of society under President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo. As citizens took to the streets to protest, in Molina’s own words, “several years of suffering electoral frauds, selective repression, attempts to censor the internet, mismanagement of environmental disasters and the enactment of a social security law that curtails the rights of current and future pensioners” the Nicaraguan government has embarked upon increasingly brutal crack-downs.

Human rights groups’ reports differ on the scale but it is apparent several hundred have died in the violence. Despite all the unrest and direct threats and attempts at intimidation by masked paramilitaries working for the regime, Molina has continued to produce hard-hitting cartoons confronting the abuses of the Nicaraguan government. The CRNI board feels that Pedro exemplifies exactly the courageous kind of cartoonist we wish to honor with our award.

The decision to recognize Molina this year is further evidence of the lurch toward authoritarianism that has gripped nations around the world and fits the pattern of cartoonists reporting – along with their colleagues across all mass media – an increasingly hostile environment to journalism and satire.

CRNI Executive Director Dr Robert Russell said:

“I am so happy that we can recognize the incredible contribution that Pedro Molina has made to political cartooning and more generally in the field of human rights around the world. His courage in the face of credibly life-threatening incidents along with the defiance and support of his family make him a role model in the fight against tyranny and brutality. He has given us a constant flow of reports and cartoons about the plight of all Nicaraguan citizens during this very difficult period in the nation’s history.”

The 2018 Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award will be presented during the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists’ annual convention, this year held at the Citizen Hotel Sacramento, California. The concluding gala will be attended by Molina, his family and representatives of the CRNI board.

Cartoonists across the globe have responded to the loss of the Ghanaian diplomat and former UN Secretary-General.

Kofi Annan caricature by Terry Anderson

With the death of Kofi Annan human rights organisations the world over have lost one of their most well-known and passionate advocates.

Cartoonists Rights Network International joins in the outpouring of grief that has ensued since August 18th and sends our condolences to colleagues who knew him best, especially Cartooning For Peace staff in France and Switzerland.

CRNI Executive Director Dr Robert Russell said:

“We are so saddened by news of the death of Kofi Annan, a great friend and supporter of political cartooning, especially through his patronage and support of Cartooning For Peace which has contributed tremendously to the growing awareness that political cartoonists are first responders in the complicated struggles around free speech.”

Alongside cartoonist for Le Monde Plantu, president of the Salon International de la Caricature, du Dessin de Presse et d’Humour Gérard Vandenbroucke and a diverse panel of cartoonists including former CRNI board member Ann Telnaes, Annan founded CFP with a large scale exhibit at the UN in 2006 and served as their honorary president since.

His legacy will be assured by their continuing work on behalf of cartoonists in jeopardy such as Musa Kart, this year’s International Press laureate.

As long-time followers will recall our Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award winner in 2011 had for the last several years laboured under nine counts of sedition. However the recent change in Malaysia’s government had given us all reason to hope that the case would be dismissed.

Coming shortly after the end to his travel ban, this means Zunar can now resume his international career free from worry of extradition or imprisonment.

The only matters remaining from his previous woes under the Najib Razak regime are his own complaints concerning confiscation of artwork and seizure of books. We hope he is a successful in these court proceedings as his defence has been and that thereafter this long period of strife will fully become a thing of the past.

A jubilant Zunar leaves court.

Meanwhile we turn our attention to this year’s award recipient, to be announced in September, and those other past winners still facing threat such as Musa Kart, expected back in court to appeal his conviction on charges of abetting terrorism. The sorry tale of his persecution and prosecution by the Turkish government took a bizarre twist earlier this month when the travel agent Kart was accused of contacting as a means to reach religious fundamentalists was made a minister in President Erdoğan’s cabinet.

Corruption is everywhere and cartoonists who speak truth to power are easy targets. We’ll continue to work in their defence.

Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff reports via Twitter receipt of notice that his website will be
denied to Pakistan’s internet users, withdrawn by WordPress after a request from the Pakistani government.

It’s hard to identify what the basis of their objection might be. Latuff apparently hasn’t posted about the country in over three years and when he last did was perfectly even-handed and the butt of the joke was the USA.

UPDATE: Latuff himself ascribes the controversy to a 2012 cartoon decrying Islamophobia in Europe which has been misconstrued as a blasphemous insult to Islam in itself. On a related note, a 2008 cartoon altered to include racist and antisemitic tropes and misascribed to the right wing American cartoonist Ben Garrison was “accidentally” retweeted by Libertarain politician Ron Paul before a hasty deletion and apology earlier this month.

Cartoonists in the Asian subcontinent are quite accustomed to similar instances of online censorship, particularly on Facebook. In the past twelve months there have been two notable instances of Facebook posts resulting in harassment of Indian cartoonists and a past CRNI Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award winner came under attack once again.

Of course, all such moves are ultimately counterproductive. In Latuff’s case his cartoons will only have greater caché in Pakistan and interested parties will seek them out via other platforms and websites.

UPDATE: Latuff further confirms that once again the Turkish government has successfully petitioned WordPress to target his blog.

Hard to believe it was as long as two years ago that we shared Zunar’s last Tweet from Kuala Lumpur airport when he reported the seizure of his documents and the imposition of a travel ban.

As he heads off to the UK, an excellent article in The Observer details his feelings after the change in Malaysian government and the loss of both his arch tormentors and chief muse in the form of Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor.